A week in tech, June 30 - July 6

Hong Kong

Mobile/Wireless
• Hutchison Whampoa announced its signing of an agreement with US-based online service provider Yahoo! to offer its portfolio of mobile services to 3G customers worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will work together to offer key internet services such as Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mobile Web, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Go for Mobile over Hutch's 3G networks, with further services planned in the future. The Hong Kong-based company said it has plans to launch the first services in the UK this summer, with other key markets to follow, including Italy, Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia. Subsidiary Hutchison Telecom International plans to launch similar Yahoo! mobile applications for customers in Hong Kong and India.

Telecommunications
• PCCW disclosed that it may offer a HK$7 ($0.9) per share special dividend to get shareholder approval for the proposed sale of its assets. The statement indicated that PCCW will decide which of the two bids it will take within the next ten days. PCCW said it has received two bids for all its media and telecoms assets from Macquarie Bank, which was joined in its bid by News Corp., and Texas Pacific Group. The sale, however, has received objections from key PCCW shareholder, State-controlled China Network Communications Corp. (China Netcom), as well as from the Chinese government, which are not keen about foreigners holding such large stakes in strategic assets such as telecom and media. It has been reported, too, that, representatives from the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and from the Ministry of Information Industry have plans to visit PCCW to discuss the asset sale.

Information Technology
• Reports said Octopus Cards have been cleared to export its smart card technology for cashless transactions to Shenzhen and Macau. The development indicates that Octopus is going beyond Hong Kong, where 13.5 million cards are in circulation and are used for different types of transactions. For Macau, Octopus has received approval from the Hong Kong and Macau monetary authorities to implement its technology. Octopus said it is currently looking for suitable retailers and businesses even as a company official said that it is initially targeting Macau companies with existing Hong Kong operations. Octopus said it is not looking to applying its technology in casinos, as it is not familiar with gambling activities. In Shenzhen, Octopus is limited to the retail business and is currently signing up retailers. Octopus said the smart card will be operational both in Macau and Shenzhen before the end of 2006. Octopus is teaming up with China Union Pay, the network of mainland banks that support electronic payments, to settle its Shenzhen transactions.

Singapore/Malaysia/Philippines/Indonesia

Telecommunications
• Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) announced that it is targeting double-digit earnings growth in the near future, with the company stating that its Singapore business is likely to produce free cashflow and operating revenue that are comparable with those for the financial year 2006. The company said Singapore Telecommunications' regional mobile communications associates were also expected to continue to deliver double-digit earnings growth. Given this target and development, cash dividends from associates were expected to increase. Singapore Telecommunications reiterated its proposal to return S$2.3 billion ($1.9 billion) to shareholders via a capital reduction involving the cancellation of about five per cent of the company's total issued share capital. Singapore Telecommunications reported a group net profit of S$4.1 billion ($3.5 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2006, a figure that represents a 27.4 percent increase. Optus, which is owned by SingTel, reported an annual net profit of $593 million for 2005/06, compared to $1 billion in the previous year.




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